Line of Best Fit
by MadeElly
Summary: Rory thinks that her life is finally becoming what she wanted. She has great friends and an amazing boyfriend. But all that changes when Jess shows up and reminds her that this life might not be the best one for her. Post season 7. Lit.


**_Line of Best Fit_**

**Summary: **Rory seems to finally have it all: great friends, a good job, a good apartment, and an amazing boyfriend. But when Jess shows up unexpectedly in her life again, she starts to realize that maybe this isn't the best life for her after all.

**Pairing: **Jess/Rory

_Reviews are totally welcome. _

* * *

"Hey, Rory, I need you to take care of this. Like, now."

Rory rolled her eyes as she got up from her desk and looked her boss, LeAnn Beverly straight in the eyes, not backing down. Her mother had always told her to stand her ground; to screw authority. Or, at least, authority she didn't like. But Rory wasn't her mother, and so taking the yellow pad, she sat down and started to type. LeAnn smirked, folding her arms, and walked off.

So, working for the _Chicago Sun Times _wasn't all it was cracked up to be. But it was a start. After a year of covering the presidential campaign, Rory had finally received a job offer that she wanted: to work as an intern for the _New York Times_.

But Rory didn't want to go back. She didn't want to go anywhere near her old life, or her old school, or her old town. She didn't want to look back from where she came from, especially after the fight she had with her mother.

It wasn't over anything really, at least that's what she told herself, but she knew that she might never make up with her mother over this. But the second best offer she got was at the _Sun Times_, so she decided to go there. She quite liked Chicago: it was big, and maybe even more confusing than New York City. She had friends, a good apartment, and even a boyfriend.

However, as good as this job was, it wasn't good enough for her. She was still writing for online news sites and magazines, but in the office she was treated as nothing more than a secretary. Typing things up, fetching coffee, taking calls. It was worse than being an intern. The pay was good, though, and what Rory was mostly concerned about was having an independent, stable life.

On her desk, her blackberry started to vibrate. She picked it up, and looked at who was calling**. Jessie**, the phone read, and a big smile spread across her features. She pressed the "talk" button and held the phone up to her ear.

"Yo, chickie, what's up?" Rory heard from the other side as she took a sip of luke warm coffee on her desk.

"The usual," Rory responded, clunking her coffee cup on her desk.

"Oh, so you're being a slave. God, that's so in your nature," Jessie said, and Rory could basically hear her friend's smirk.

"Yeah, well, that's me. What about you?" Rory asked, and quickly put the phone down as she saw LeAnn pass. She picked it up again. "Sorry, evil boss-witch is on the hunt."

"That bitch really needs to die. Anyway, I was thinking of getting pink highlights, but pink is way too light for my hair color. It would be one sun-like blob. Pink does not go good with blonde hair. So, I'm thinking of getting black and red highlights. You know, go all emo and shit," Jessie explained, and Rory shook her head in disbelief.

"You know, Jess, one day all your hair is going to fall out and I won't be able to stop that," Rory told her friend.

Jessie let out a little scoff. "It so will not. And for the millionth time, don't call me Jess; it makes me sound all butch."

Rory sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Yeah, sorry. Force of habit."

There was a pause on the other side of the line. "Ohh, right," Jessie finally responded. "That dude you dated way back when. Just remind me to name me first child Logan, just to get at you."

Rory let out a small laugh. "Thanks, Jessie. I really appreciate you reminding me of my former love life."

"Speaking of love lives, how's it going with you and Connor?"

Rory smiled and felt a warm feeling in her stomach. "It's going so well, Jessie, I can't tell you how glad I am to have met him. He's perfect, really." And the thing that made Rory smile the most was that she really meant it.

"That's good. Can I have some? Sam is being a total jerk to me. Again," Jessie complained.

"Well, then just dump him already. There's no way he can be good for you," Rory told her friend, who sighed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Rory saw LeAnn come over, and whispered into the phone, "Witch-alert, gotta book. See you tonight, okay?" and when Jessie said goodbye, Rory hung up.

It was too late. "Were you making non-work related calls?" LeAnn questioned, coming up to Rory's desk again.

Rory grimaced, but LeAnn moved on before she could respond. "Whatever, there's a call for you at the front desk."

"What? Why didn't they just call me here?" she asked, and her boss shrugged.

"Don't know. Maybe they didn't know your number. Guess you're not famous enough." LeAnn smirked and walked away.

"Gee, thanks," Rory muttered under her breath, and then ran up to the front desk. "Hey, I heard there's a call for me," she informed the woman at the front desk.

"Oh, yes," the woman handed her the phone and pressed a button. "Here you go."

"Do you know who it is?" Rory asked, and the woman shrugged.

"He said he knew you."

Rory put the receiver up to her ear. "Yes?"

"Rory?"

Her heart stopped for a moment as she heard the deep voice on the other side of the line. It couldn't be him: wasn't he in Philadelphia?

"Who is this?" she asked, trying to keep calm.

"Jess," he said. "If you haven't forgotten already."

"Yeah, no, I didn't forget. Why are you calling me?" she asked, taking a deep breath and letting her heart slow down. It was just Jess calling, probably wanting to check in. They'd go out for dinner, and then part their ways. Hopefully nothing like before would happen; hopefully Connor wouldn't know that one of her old boyfriends was in town. He didn't seem like the jealous type, but Rory didn't want to test that theory.

"Look, this wasn't a courtesy call. I was stopping-" he was cut off as there was yelling behind him. Rory could hear him yelling something back, and then he got back on the phone. "Sorry about that."

"Jess, _where _are you?" she asked, hoping that he wasn't where she thought he might be.

"Yeah, about that…you're my one call so don't hang up right now…" he trailed off.

"You're in _jail_?!" Rory shouted, and then lowered her voice as she realized how many inquisitive looks she was receiving. "How did you get there?"

"Oh, well, see, it seemed like a nice place to stay and it didn't cost anything-"

"Cut the crap, Jess. Why are you in jail?"

"Look, I'll tell you later, I just need you to pick me up. Please, you're the only person I know in this whole fucking place," he told her.

She nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "Yeah, sure, whatever," she said, even though this whole thing wasn't a "whatever" statement to her. She didn't want to see Jess again. She had the feeling that everything would just get screwed up, especially since she had only been seeing Connor for a little while.

Giving the phone back to the woman at the front desk, she quickly ran to her desk to pick her coat and purse up, shouting out to her friend sitting at a nearby cubicle that she'd be back soon.

Sighing, she left her office, hoping that Jess would leave as soon as she came to pick him up, because she couldn't have him screwing everything up. She couldn't let that happen, not again, and especially not with Jess. But an unsure feeling grounded itself in the pit of her stomach and she knew that she wouldn't be able to just see Jess off as if he had never even been there.


End file.
